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Metro Last Light dev: 'Wii U has horrible, slow CPU' [Up: DICE dev comments]

You generally don't just "turn a few bells and whistles off" to scale down to a much weaker CPU. That's easier for graphics.


But it isn't really. It's as expensive as 360 was 6 years ago.

360 didnt have an interactive tablet either.
But none of these consoles are what I would call expensive.
 
You don't think that if Nintendo went all powerful with WiiU the price will not go up? Of course it will.

I think they could have made some better decisions. A more complex approach to backwards compatibility might have netted them a better CPU without much cost difference for example. Some other decisions that are hampering performance have likely saved them very little, but Nintendo's never been shy about shaving pennies if it doesn't affect their own development plans. Slightly looser margins would have helped too.

I'm also going to go out on a limb and question whether Nintendo's capability for bang-for-buck system design and component procurement is quite at the same level as their competitors. I acknowledge that's a slightly more controversial suggestion, but I'm increasingly wondering if there's merit to it or not. Nintendo seems to prioritise even the smallest of cost savings over 'value for money' which I think limits them. Slightly smaller investments in certain components can sometimes yield notable differences, but it seems like Nintendo will always opt for the absolute lowest cost no matter how small the saving - unless their own software development priorities say otherwise.
 
because expecting a significant jump in visual fidelity compared to the previous generation is such a bad thing. jesus, some of you nintendo fans...

I think you're being a bit too sensitive. I was basically saying that Nintendo doesn't really care about those that lust for graphics. They will do just enough to satisfy their target demographic.

I think they could have made some better decisions. A more complex approach to backwards compatibility might have netted them a better CPU without much cost difference for example. Some other decisions that are hampering performance have likely saved them very little, but Nintendo's never been shy about shaving pennies if it doesn't affect their own development plans. Slightly looser margins would have helped too.

Yeah they are too hung up on backwards compatibility. I'm happy to have my other console around if I need to play that shit. Or do it via software for select titles even.
 
because expecting a significant jump in visual fidelity compared to the previous generation is such a bad thing. jesus, some of you nintendo fans...

It's all relative. The jump from Wii is there. You can expect Nintendo to follow Sony and Microsoft, but they have said themselves that they aren't on that road anymore.
 
It's all relative. The jump from Wii is there. You can expect Nintendo to follow Sony and Microsoft, but they have said themselves that they aren't on that road anymore.

Pretty much.
WiiU is a huge jump from the Wii.
They have tried to differentiate themselves from the competition through innovation/unique control gimmicks and it has proven to be very successful not to mention a lot of fun.
 
Pretty much.
WiiU is a huge jump from the Wii.
They have tried to differentiate themselves from the competition through innovation/unique control gimmicks and it has proven to be very successful not to mention a lot of fun.

and alienating to a specific and somewhat significant portion of the market.
 
Pretty much.
WiiU is a huge jump from the Wii.
They have tried to differentiate themselves from the competition through innovation/unique control gimmicks and it has proven to be very successful not to mention a lot of fun.
Pretty tiring after the three year mark though. The games dried up and so did the fans. Eventually the only major things left in the Wii's last two years were Zelda, Xenoblade and the Last Story. Two of those had to be obtained by beating Nintendo's hands with a crowbar until they loosened their grip.
 
and alienating to a specific and somewhat significant portion of the market.

It's significance can be measured looking at Wii's success. And the result is, you can indeed succeed in the market doing something different than the majority of the competition is doing.
 
Your right , tech demos for Zelda games never look as good as the real games.
That's usually because of better uses of the hardware, and rarely because of implicit technical excellence in comparison.

Spaceworld demo Link has probably 15-20,000 more polygons than the final TP Link model. The final TP model looking a lot better.
 
That's usually because of better uses of the hardware, and rarely because of implicit technical excellence in comparison.

Spaceworld demo Link has probably 15-20,000 more polygons than the final TP Link model. The final TP model looking a lot better.

A shame that TP has such hideous textures. I wish they had skipped the gamecube altogether and utilized Wii's larger amount of RAM. Sigh. Well at least we got Skyward Sword.
 
and alienating to a specific and somewhat significant portion of the market.

If thats the downside of having a unique controller so be it.
I have no investment in Nintendo.
I like interesting gameplay ideas.

Pretty tiring after the three year mark though. The games dried up and so did the fans. Eventually the only major things left in the Wii's last two years were Zelda, Xenoblade and the Last Story. Two of those had to be obtained by beating Nintendo's hands with a crowbar until they loosened their grip.

Nintendo is pretty stubborn Ill give you that.
Those three alone were more engaging to me than much of what the other two have offered lately.
To each their own and all that.
 
rofl i feel sorry for the metro developer, he got caugh out talking rubbish i bet he feels embarassed now.

From my understanding he got a call from Iwata and he has now seen the light. I recorded the moment:

iUTgmSFO5CrxA.gif
 
Nintendo is pretty stubborn Ill give you that.
Those three alone were more engaging to me than much of what the other two have offered lately.
To each their own and all that.
Oh no, I totally get you, man. The Wii had way more amazing games than the 360 or PS3 as far as I'm concerned(I think I have like 55 Wii games versus 23 GC and 30 360). The problem is that the hardware is so terribly dull outside of gaming then you combine that with their pathetic online approaches and I couldn't be arsed to turn the thing on. Third party ouput on Wii>output on the 360 or PS3 and it was pretty amazing when paired with Nintendo's first party.

Their hardware though... *twitch*
 
Oh no, I totally get you, man. The Wii had way more amazing games than the 360 or PS3 as far as I'm concerned(I think I have like 55 Wii games versus 23 GC and 30 360). The problem is that the hardware is so terribly dull outside of gaming then you combine that with their pathetic online approaches and I couldn't be arsed to turn the thing on. Third party ouput on Wii>output on the 360 or PS3 and it was pretty amazing when paired with Nintendo's first party.

Their hardware though... *twitch*

Yeah I have a similar proportion of Wii to HD games.
For PS360 mostly racing games and weird shit like ratchet and clank, bayonetta, Catherine, etc.
 
Is this the new KZ2 Gif meme going on or something?

It's gif worthy I think. The footage ran on a GTX580 according to a Rock, Paper Shotgun interview.
http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2012/06/18/4a-talks-multiplayer-metro-pc-specific-features/
You know, I’d say what you saw today was, it wasn’t running on a latest-gen card. We have that running on a 580

The game looks fucking unbelievable going by the PC footage. O_O

Can't wait to play it really.
 
the wii u has a different cpu architecture it doesn't take a genius to realize the developer is simply too lazy to learn something different!

It has three old cores taped together into something completely new and revolutionary, which is appropriate considering the code-name for the original Wii.
 
I think they could have made some better decisions. A more complex approach to backwards compatibility might have netted them a better CPU without much cost difference for example. Some other decisions that are hampering performance have likely saved them very little, but Nintendo's never been shy about shaving pennies if it doesn't affect their own development plans. Slightly looser margins would have helped too.

I'm also going to go out on a limb and question whether Nintendo's capability for bang-for-buck system design and component procurement is quite at the same level as their competitors. I acknowledge that's a slightly more controversial suggestion, but I'm increasingly wondering if there's merit to it or not. Nintendo seems to prioritise even the smallest of cost savings over 'value for money' which I think limits them. Slightly smaller investments in certain components can sometimes yield notable differences, but it seems like Nintendo will always opt for the absolute lowest cost no matter how small the saving - unless their own software development priorities say otherwise.

If they went with a lower end version of what PS4/720 was doing. An AMD CPU/GPU combo. They could have coded a better in house version of what dolphin is doing since they know the hardware backwards and forwards. Even if the most budget AMD CPU probably kills this CPU and I am pretty sure they could have gotten a GC/WII emu up and running that could have rendered the game at 480p which is no further ahead then they are now BC wise but without having to possibly castrate your system for BC. They could probably do higher rendering as well, thus improving your old games. However this would limit their ability to sell you HD ports down the road so I don't expect to see this in any console.

This paired with a ram setup within the realm of what PS4/720 might do would have improved 3rd Party support going forward. I also don't see how this setup would hinder Nintendo's 'vision" for what games they wanted to make. System could probably be reasonably low wattage as well. No more than any other electronics device in this class.
 
"We didn't feel like learning a new console"
..."that will struggle to shine a favourable light on all our hard work, and probably struggle to recoup the porting cost with such a small user base."

Sounds entirely reasonable dude. They don't want their hard work:

A) shown in a poor light
B) struggling to break even
 
..."that will struggle to shine a favourable light on all our hard work, and probably struggle to recoup the porting cost with such a small user base."

Sounds entirely reasonable dude. They don't want their hard work:

A) shown in a poor light
B) struggling to break even

Especially since THQ is in a bad place right now. I can't really be mad at them either.
 
Seriously if it's the same shitty design of your father's fps I don't give a flying fuck at all.
I have more things to do than waste it for the stuffs like that, if I want impressive real time gfx I don't look at video games anyway.

I dig the artstyle and the tech is phenomenal, I can't complain. :D

Seems I have :/ Don't know how to feel about this
Joke characters are sometimes funny, he is one of them.

The PS3 architecture was worth looking into because the high-end market was there. In the case of the Wii U I'm not sure third parties will bother optimizing their game for the platform if it proves too difficult.
 
I dig the artstyle and the tech is phenomenal, I can't complain. :D.

Games are always years late and never represent the high end of what's possible, I'd look more at Siggraph and less at individual game companies to see something impressive.
Let alone phenomenal.
 
Games are always years late and never represent the high end of what's possible, I'd look more at Siggraph and less at individual game companies to see something impressive.
Let alone phenomenal.
The thing is we judge video game graphics.....by video game standards. I could not care less if we can make more of the tech available, what matters to me is the result I can have a look right now.

Following this logic Last Light on PC is astounding graphically speaking.
 
Maybe the Wii U lacks on the CPU department (and RAM speed) but overall, it's definitely more powerful than the HD twins.

The GPU definitely has a more modern feature set and on paper can do much more, but if there are issues with the RAM/CPU it's going take some time for developers to exploit.
 
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